Ok I'm going to go on a huge rant cause I HATE MAX from the Hoenn region, he is one of the most annoying and obnoxious characters I have ever seen in any TV show. I honestly dislike him which such a passion even though he is a kid he thinks he is always right even though he has been proved wrong on countless occasions. and proves the fact that he is very immature when Ash defeats his dad he runs away with the badge and cries. Why do they include characters like this he ruins most episodes for me cause I cannot even stand to gear his voice. The only episode I enjoy with him in is when Ash is battling Roxanne and he goes into one of her classes and the other kid thinks he is arrogant, I love that kid. Anyway I just wanted to write this somewhere haha sorry for going on a rant but Max gets on my nerves so much. =)

I think he brought a very different dynamic to the group. Before Hoenn we only had two other groups; Ash, Misty, Brock and Ash, Misty and Tracey. It was quite refreshing to have four in a group.

Though, speaking from my point of view character wise, I didn't dislike him. I thought it was a pretty neat idea, having May's younger brother join them on their journey. The writers did a good job in conveying him as just that, a younger brother. I think his role or purpose for the journey was interesting to say the least, they dealt well with it. Having a boy, younger than Ash start travelling already. Looking at his personality, he was just a child, and did crazy stuff like steal Ash's badge after he beat his father. I didn't see it as annoying, but was it as character development.

I have to admit there's a lot of potential for his character now, though. There's that promised battle with Ash, once he becomes a trainer. The fandom wants to see him go back and capture that Ralts he met. I suppose if we do see those R/S/E remakes, there's a chance the anime could take and give Max a cameo. It wouldn't be such a shabby idea. I could see him a little older and as a trainer (there are problems with that, seeing as Ash is still 10, but somehow I feel the anime will just ignore that factor anyway) and we could probably see a match between Ash and Max, most likely with Max harbouring a bunch of gen 3 Pokémon to advertise for R/S/E.
/Just my two cents.

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Ha, I used to despise Max with an undying passion. But he did develop as a character, and the reason I thought he was annoying was because he was a kid. He was immature. As Mew said, he definitely brought an interesting dynamic to the group, especially bringing conflict, such as fighting with May, spoiling her fear to Harley, stealing the badge, etc. It was entertaining. You wouldn't see that with Misty or Tracey. So at that point, it was something new and refreshing. Seriously, there's only so much Ash, Misty, and Brock you can handle. After a while, it gets old.

In any case, I would like to see him in the anime again as a trainer. It would be nice to see him battle Ash.

Max is awesome...:(
He was actually one of the characters I liked more and even while he was immature he was still pretty smart. I always feel bad that he never got a pokemon, I thought he was going to get ralts or beldum I think, but sadly he never did.

I thought Max was an okay character. Even though he didn't have his own Pokemon (though he borrowed May's Munchlax a few times), I liked the episodes that had him befriend other Pokemon, especially the Ralts one.

I liked Max, but i was younger back then so idk if my opinion has changed, but i didn't watch all of the Hoenn Series, i just never had time to watch it and i've only seen about half of it (I saw none of the battle frontier series)

Ah Max, i always liked that kid.
He was overall good character who contributed when it comes to Ash development as trainer giving many useful information having very impressive knowledge about pokemon tactics and pokemon matching Brock.He may have not had pokemon but he compensated this handicap through other fields having his share of moments. I believe his presence helped Brock a lot in AG too compensating for loss of Misty, by having someone to who Brock could easier relate to having good character interaction. I also liked his fights with May, with whole brother-sister arguing adding interesting note to anime .

Hopefully one day he will return to have that promised battle with Ash. Although since characters don't age in pokemon, poor kid will from the looks of it stay forever at Petalburg gym rotting.

But ill be completely honest here. If i could choose, i would rather have Misty instead of Max in AG series. It would have been cool to have two girls in same cast at one, and Misty tomboyish personality would work well with May bubbly character imo. Since she was more mature at that point, she could teach her some things as well. Though back to reality, we all know writers will never include two girls in group.

But all in all , yeah i liked Max. He may have not had pokemon, but he compensated this handicap through other fields having his share of moments. One of best moments where he shined was in "Do i hear Ralts!".

I actually found Max's arrogance amusing. Much more interesting than the empty void that was Brock.

I don't know, i found Brock to be quite interesting and full of character in AG.
He still had personality of wise and most mature member of group, joked, flirt over girls, bringing certain sense of security and order when conflict arises between group.
I think Max presence in Hoenn definitely helped character not feeling left out(unlike it was case in DP). They had great interactions together with Max having admiration and respect for Brock, viewing him as somesort of role model. He had memorable moments with May too going to shopping, clashing at times, May dragging him to haunted house etc.

Granted he should have given more focus, but as character he was fun there imo.

I can't comment on what I feel about the character, unlike May, for example, because I haven't seen much of him. I will comment, however, that he at least, technically speaking, completed his goal (seeing first hand what doing a pokemon journey means), something few characters have actually done by the time they left (honestly, the only other character I could think of who actually has accomplished his goal upon leaving the group was Tracey). Of course, they pretty much set him up to return, so to speak, yet obviously that never worked, as the writers decided long ago to halt the characters' aging.

I am not a huge fan of max, but I think that the writers achieved what they wanted with max, he was irritating ignorant annoying and a bit of a know it all. The usual characteristics you would find in a typical younger brother and in my mind that was the role he was written to play so In my personal opinion yes max is irritating, but the new 4 group dynamic allowed ash to be a bit more mature and play a sought of older brother role to max, it also added a bit of family banter between May and Max (while still keeping the awkward will they wont they banter with ash and may), As well as the staple of relying on Brock/Cilan to feed and keep the group alive. So basically i enjoyed the Hohen Saga and i really enjoyed the 4 group dynamic.

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